


Echo Through the Multiverse

by timeturtle



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-07-20 06:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeturtle/pseuds/timeturtle
Summary: Mike Wheeler lives a pretty ordinary life. That is, until he finds an object known only as the shard. Thrown into a series of bizarre alternate realities and on the run from a group who desperately want the shard for reasons he does not yet know. Mike must try and find his way home while attempting to uncover the purpose of the shard,who the mysterious twins are who seem to guide him andwhy in every reality, he always meets a girl named Eleven.





	1. The Shard

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!  
> This is a rework of a fic I tried to write earlier this year but wasn't happy with it. I'll try and update as regularly as I can :) 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy.

Mike Wheeler sat staring out of the classroom window as the snow softly fell to the ground, he knew that he should’ve been paying attention but something felt wrong today, the calmness outside felt almost like the quiet before a storm.

“Michael Wheeler!” Mrs Davey shouted. “Am I boring you?” 

Mike usually would have come up with some snarky remark but today he didn’t feel in the mood and decided to settle for a simple apology.

After Mrs Davey was satisfied that he was paying attention again she turned her attention back to the lesson and Mike turned his attention back to the window, the window almost appeared to shimmer and Mike could’ve sworn he saw a girl in a pink dress stood outside watching him.

Rubbing his eyes he looked again but all he could see was the endless snowfall.

“Urgh, maybe i’m going crazy.” He muttered to himself.

“Mike, you’ve always been crazy.” His friend Lucas whispered to him.

Mike and Lucas had met the first day of school and had been friends ever since, there had been four of them in their friendship group however Will, a quiet but friendly boy, had moved away a year ago which left Mike, Lucas and Dustin. 

The bell finally rang, and Mike and Lucas grabbed their bags and made their way to the cafeteria, there they found Dustin and sat, as they always did, on one of the corner tables, out of mind from the rest of the school. 

“Troy again?” Mike asked Dustin after noticing Dustin’s black eye.

“Yeah, but hey, what can you do right.” 

Mike had always been impressed by Dustin’s ‘life could be worse’ attitude but even so, what he wouldn’t give to watch Troy get his ass handed to him.

As his friends dug into their food, Mike couldn’t help let his mind wander, today felt different. He couldn’t tell why, but he felt like something was going to happen and what about the girl he saw in the window, it was almost like an echo. Could images echo? Maybe he was going crazy?

“Mike!” Lucas shouted, shaking his friend. “Dude, you gotta stop spacing out like that.”

“I know, I'm sorry. Just feeling a bit off today I guess.” Mike explained with a small smile.

School was painfully slow for the rest of the day but finally the last bell of the day rang. Mike said bye to Lucas and Dustin saying that he needed some rest instead of going to the arcade and he made his way to his locker. No sooner had he arrived, he heard the familiar voice of Troy.

“Well Well Well, poor frogface all alone.” Troy sneerd.

Mike tried to ignore him, opening up his locker and gathering some books. Troy continued to attack Mike with insults which garnered no response, simply angering Troy further. 

“Hey Wheeler!!” Troy shouted in his ear. “I’m talking to you!”

He grabbed Mike by the shoulder and pushed him into the lockers.

Mike shouted in pain as his nose started to bleed from the impact.

“You’re such a fucking mouthbreather Troy” Mike screamed.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Troy sniggered and walked away stopping to simply call back

“Same time tomorrow Frogface.”

* * *

The walk back to his house was a long and tedious trek but Mike didn’t mind it in the winter, the snow added an almost magical feel to it and especially today, Mike was glad of the time to think about his day. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about the echo of the girl he saw, he knew that the chances are it was a trick of the light from the classroom and it had simply been one of his classmates but something nagged at the back of his brain. 

A feeling.

A feeling that this girl was important in some way.

The snow had started to fall again and Mike dug his hands into his pockets in an effort to keep them warm.

That was when he saw it.

A faint glow, in fact he’d almost missed it but there it was.

Mike stumbled through the snow towards it, as he approached the glow seemed to get more intense and as he reached it he stopped and inspected the object in front of him.

It was a small shard of what looked like glass. It glowed an almost sky Blue and Mike couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. He bent down to inspect it and he could’ve sworn he heard almost like whispering coming from it.

Cautiously, he moved his hand towards it, and picked it up. It was warm, very warm and yet it hadn’t melted any of the snow around it. 

As he held it, something rather peculiar began to happen.

Mike found it difficult to explain but it was almost like reality began to glitch, people seemed to appear and then disappear. Objects almost phased in and then out of the world. Mike’s head began to swirl and pound and he felt like he was going to be sick. He collapsed onto the floor, his brain screaming at his hand to release the shard but it wouldn’t.

Mike pressed his eyes shut and then he heard a voice call his name.

* * *

Mike’s eyes burst open, he looked around confused and disorientated, he appeared to be in a bustling station, maybe for trains? He thought to himself.

Looking up however that theory was quickly disproven as he saw what appeared to be airships docking at platforms high above him. 

“Mike, for god’s sake we’re gonna be late!” A girl shouted at him. She wore a brown shirt and black skirt with what appeared to be an old duster coat. She had short curly hair and a pair of strange looking goggles resting on her forehead.

Mike’s brain felt on fire, he had no idea what was happening, why it was happening or indeed where he was. However he could feel memories pushing on his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to think and flashes of what seemed to be another life appeared. He found it difficult to comprehend much of what he saw but one thing did stick in his mind, a number, or maybe it was a name.

All he knew was that it had something to do with the girl in front of him.

Eleven. 


	2. A World Unlike Any Other (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike tries to find out why he has suddenly woken up in a strange world composed of steam and cogs. Meanwhile, a shadowy group begins a hunt for Mike before he manages to escape to a new reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! sorry it's taken me a week to finish this, work has been a nightmare and I don't get much time to write at the moment, sorry if this chapter is confusing or weird, i'll try and explain more in the next chapter, anyways enjoy!!!

“Eleven.” Mike uttered.

“Yeah?”

“What does it mean?” 

“Mike, it’s my name.” Eleven said, her voice was filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

Mike was too confused to answer, he just stood gawking at the girl in front of him. Any other person would’ve found someone being named Eleven weird but to Mike, for some reason it just made sense. 

“Look, I don’t know if you’ve hit your head or what but we have to go!” She exclaimed.

She grabbed his hand, which Mike noticed seemed to fit perfectly in his, and began running towards one of the nearby docking bays. 

“Halt!” A tall man with a clipboard shouted at them.

“Here Sir, our tickets.” Eleven smiled, fishing out 2 pieces of paper and handing them to the official.

“Where are your parents?” The man asked, eyeing both of them.

“On board, Sir.” Eleven said although Mike knew she was lying.

Mike glanced at the man, it was obvious he knew Eleven was lying as well but he seemed to take pity on them, and nodded towards the airship. “Go on, before I change my mind.”

Eleven and Mike mumbled a thanks before quickly scurrying onto the airship and finding some seats.

This was the first time Mike truly had time to process what was happening. He was in another world, or maybe anything dimension. Maybe the multiverse theory was correct he pondered. Maybe he was going crazy.

He knew things about this world, tiny details that seemed to leak into his mind, almost like how details from a dream remain when you wake up. The problem was these details didn’t come fast enough, he was still clueless about what was going on and so he turned to the only person he could.

“Eleven, where the hell am I?” he asked.

“You never call me Eleven, you always call me El, seriously Mike whats wrong?” 

Mike considered making something up, but he found when he tried to tell her a lie, he couldn’t and before he long he found himself telling her everything that had happened. He finished by showering her the shard to which El quickly made him put it away.

“We’ve never lied to each other, and so, as fantastical as it sounds, I believe you.” She cupped his face with one of her hands.

“Do you know what this shard is?” Mike asked.

“No, but I have an idea who might.” She smiled at him which seemed to cause Mike’s heart to do a backflip, “you should get some sleep, it’s a long flight.”

With that, El closed her eyes and drifted off, Mike however took time to look out the window and he watched out the window as a world he couldn’t explain passed beneath him before sleep finally claimed him.

* * *

Two men and a woman stood at the airship docking station.

“The shard was here.” The first man said, he wore strange looking glasses.

“Which means the others will be here looking for it as well.” The Second man said, he had a scar down the side of his face.

“Quiet, both of you.” The woman said, she wore a dark red overcoat along with a matching shirt and pants. “We still have time to find it, but if the worst comes to worst, find out where it’s exit point will be. We might be able to catch it before it travels to the next world.”

* * *

Mike’s eyes slowly opened, his dreams had been filled with what he could only assume was the life of this world’s Mike. 

“Hey, how’re ya feeling?” El asked.

“Better, I guess I’m starting to understand more about this world.” 

El nodded, content with his answer and stood up. “I think we’re here.”

They made their way down the gangplank and Mike couldn’t help but be amazed at the sight he saw. It was a city, but not like any city he had ever seen. The buildings where huge, and every one seemed to have pipes and moving cogs sticking out the side of them, objects that appeared to be almost like cars, flew through gaps between the buildings, shooting out steam as they went. Mike could’ve sworn he saw a steam train vanish into a tunnel in the side of a mountain that was the backdrop of the city.

“Holy shit your face is amazing right now!” El laughed, grabbing his hand to pull him down the street. 

“H-h-h-how?” Is all Mike could muster.

“It is pretty amazing right, you had the exact same reaction the first time we came here.” El’s face fell as she said that, and something inside Mike’s heart broke. He had replaced this Mike, the Mike that this El had liked, had been friends with.

“I’m sorry...”

“Eh, not your fault, despite a bit of memory loss you seem to be the same person.” El said, starting to grin again.

“Anyways, welcome to the city of UnderHaven!” She shouted throwing her arms in the air trying to add a hint of drama to her words.

She couldn’t help but laugh even more at Mike’s confused and bewildered expression.

“This city has been around for hundreds of years, it’s where we grew up.” She explained to him as they wandered the streets. 

“I wish I could remember everything about this place.” He sighed, looking at the tall, looming buildings that boxed him and El into the small, narrow alleyways.

El lead Mike through the intertwining streets and alleyways until they came across a small building with a sign that read

‘ Jim Hopper - Private Detective ’

El lead Mike into the building where they found a man sat reading the newspaper. It took Mike a second to realise that one of his arms was seemingly made out of metal and valves. 

“Wait here, i’ll go explain.” El said to Mike, before rushing over to the man and hugging him.

As Mike glanced around, he saw a woman writing letters while talking to a boy Mike assumed to be her son, they both looked up at him and Mike almost fainted as recognition dawned on him.

“Joyace! Will!” Mike shouted.

They both looked up and smiled at him before returning to what they were doing. Mike couldn’t help but look at them, they looked so similar to the Joyce and Will he had known back in his world yet he knew they were completely different.

“Right Kid.” Hopper said, moving towards Mike, “El’s explained to me the situation and i’m still not sure I quite understand what’s happening, can you show this...what did you call it? Shard?”

Mike nodded and produced the glowing-glass like object from his pocket.

Hopper seemed to regard it with a hint of familiarity before sighing and rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah, thought so, there’s something similar at the Goldstan building, i’m pretty sure Goldstan refers to it as the key or something weird like that.” Hopper told Mike.

Mike looked at Hopper with a confused look until Hopper finally explained that the Goldstan building was the largest building in the city, run by a corrupt little man who was seemingly obsessed with objects and devices that were seemingly impossible. 

“Look, i’ve been meaning to get inside that building for the last few weeks, a client swears Goldstan kidnapped her son and based on the evidence i’m inclined to believe her, so here’s the deal…” Hopper paused and glanced at El who was looking between him and Mike in a hopeful way, “I’ll get you in, then we’ll see if we can’t find this key, maybe somehow it’ll help us understand what’s going on.” 

El’s mouth twisted into a small smile and she walked back over to Mike and took his hand before looking at Hopper, “I’m going with him.” She said in a defiant voice. 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t even bother trying to talk you out of it, bloody inseparable you two.” He said a gruff voice but Mike could tell that he approved in his own way. 

Mike turned to look at El who was grinning at him and he felt a sense of calm wash over him, somehow he knew this was right, the way their hands seemed to fit together and the way her smile made him feel like his heart was about to explode.

“Go upstairs and get some rest!” Hopper shouted at the pair. 

“This way Mike.” El told him before leading him up the stairs

“AND NO FUNNY BUSINESS!” Hopper called after them causing Mike to blush furiously.

She led him to a small room which Mike seemed to know was El’s. She gave him a loose shirt and some pants and pointed to a small adjoining room which happens to be the bathroom, Mike got changed and came back out to find El in a small single bed, the only be in the room Mike finally realised. Sensing he was nervous and awkward she smiled at him sweetly.

“I don’t bite, come on we both need some rest.”

Mike eventually conceded and lay on the bed facing her, their faces were close and Mike found himself resisting a sudden urge to kiss her.

“You said memories of this place keep appearing in your mind...do you…”She seemed to stop unsure of whether or not to ask the question, Mike sent her a small, genuine smile.

“It’s not like I properly remember.” He explained, he saw her eye’s searching his for an answer to a question she had yet to ask. “It’s almost like hearing an echo, everything’s slightly distorted and fades until the memories echo again in my head.”

She nods in understanding and builds up the courage to finally ask.

“Do you remember us?”

He doesn’t say anything at first, but eventually he lets out a small chuckle.

“I don’t remember exactly, but I do know you’re special, that somehow you’re the most important person to me...well to the other Mike.”

El seemed to be content with the answer and let out a sign before she seemed to snuggle closer to Mike.

They both sat staring into each other’s eyes until they both finally drifted off.

* * *

“That the building?” The man in glasses asked.

“Must be, huge amounts of energy seems to be seeping out of the building according to this thing.” The man with the scar replied, shaking a small, hand-held computer.

“Get the assault team ready then, storm’s approaching, I don’t think we have much longer left.” The woman in red told both of them, looking at the sky.

She was right, a storm was brewing over the city of UnderHaven, a storm that shouldn’t exist.

One of the men pulled out a small laser pointer and aimed it at the building.

“Careful, we don’t want to damage it.” The Woman said

“I’m assuming the boy will have to be removed?” The man in glasses asked.

“Tragic, but necessary, he shouldn’t be here, he shouldn’t have touched the shard.” The Woman replied.

Time was running out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I love writing this sort of steampunk world so i'm probably gonna do a side fic that will be about Mike and Eleven growing up in this steampunk world (I guess sort of a prequel to this fic?) I'm not really sure yet.  
> I'm going to try and do 2 updates a week but if work doesn't calm down then i'll promise i'll get at least one new chapter out a week :)


	3. A World Unlike Any Other (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and El attempt to retrieve the key which will allow Mike to continue on to the next reality. Meanwhile, the group closes in on Mike and his new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! sorry it's like 2 days late. I've kinda been sleeping all weekend thanks to work but I hope you all enjoy, sorry if there's any mistakes which there probably will be, I really don't have a lot of time to check through it as much as I like but still...Hope it's not too bad and yeah, leave a comment and kudos if you like :)

Mike’s eyes shot open at the sound of distant thunder, lighting cast a flash of light in the dark room.

Mike found himself being clung to by El who appeared to be in a deep sleep and decided to let himself relax, it was only a storm right?

He perked up when he heard muffled voices and slowly extracted himself from El, making sure she was still covered by the blanket. 

He slowly moved out of the room and down the corridor towards the voices.

Another flash of lightning illuminated 2 figures at the end of the corridor.

“You tell him.”The first figure said, a man judging by the voice.

“Well I don’t see why I should, after all isn’t this partly your fault..”The other figure replied, a woman judging by the voice.

“Well that’s not fair, I just wanted to see if it was possible.”

“And we found it wasn’t.”

“Not yet, but I still believe it could happen. Anyways, what’s the harm in a little experiment.”

“Excuse me?” Mike finally interrupted, the two figures stopped bickering and turned to face him. He could just about make out their faces and clothes and if Mike didn’t know better, they looked almost like twins. “Who the hell are you people?”

They both looked at each other before turning back to Mike and in a strange unison they both replied.

“Well, I guess from your perspective, we’re caretakers.”

“Caretakers of what? This house?”

“Caretakers of everything.” The woman replied with a grin.

“Do you know what it is you carry in your pocket Michael Wheeler?” They asked him

Mike blinked. How did they know about what he had?

Instinctively he moved his hand into his pocket, making sure it was still there.

“It’s...a piece of glass...or something.” Mike replied. 

“Ah you really don’t understand do you, we’d tell you what but I don’t think the time is right yet.” The man said, brushing some dust of his blazer sleeve.

“If you know what it is then tell me!” Mike, felt a rage burning inside of him, until now the slow echo of memories in his head had kept him almost numb to what was happening, but now he felt himself snap.

“I just want to go home!” He felt his voice breaking, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “I shouldn’t be here.” 

“Mr Hopper told you about a key, that is your way out, it won't take you home, but it will take you a step closer.” They both smiled at him before the woman seemed to recall something.

“You don’t belong here Mr Wheeler, well, you do, but part of you doesn’t. You can’t stay. Find the key. Leave.”

“Leave before they find you.” The man added 

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Mike pleaded for answers but the caretakers just smiled and after a flash of lightning lit the corridor up, they were gone.

Mike stood baffled and shocked.

He had to find the key.

They said it wouldn’t take him home exactly, but he’d be closer.

Mike could almost feel the intensity of the storm increasing, and suddenly, for the first time since all this madness began, he felt truly alone and afraid.

* * *

Unbeknown to Mike, El ,Hopper or indeed anyone inside the small building was that 3 major things were about to occur in a very short space of time.

The first happened as Mike slowly walked back towards the room he and El had been sleeping in.

Mike knew something was wrong, he could practically feel it, his conversation with the strange twins had done nothing to allay his fears and now as he walked down the deserted hallway, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up like a sixth sense, warning him.

Mike looked looked down at his shirt to find a strange red dot, a red dot that didn’t seem to move with his clothing. 

Realisation dawned on his face and Mike threw himself to the floor as a small dart came flying through the window, narrowly missing him.

The second event that occurred happened at around the same time Mike hit the floor.

Hopper, who had been downstairs smoking a large cigar heard the thump and bolted upright. 

He drew his gun and moved towards the stairs about to call up when he was knocked back by an explosion at the door of the building, the concussive blast sending him flying into a nearby wall and fire seemed to envelope the living room. 

The third and final event was a team of soldiers storming into the building through the hole that had been blown. There were five in total, four of them scoured the kitchen and office while the fifth made his way past, what he assumed was a dead Hopper and began to climb the stairs.

El came rushing out of her room at the sound and trembling of the building, she rushed over to Mike as the did Joyce and Will who had just come out of their rooms.

“Mike, hey are you okay?” El frantically asked.

Mike pushed himself up and gave her a weak smile before nodding, Will and El helped him back to his feet as Joyce turned to them and quickly held a finger to her mouth, indicating to be quiet. 

She hid round the side of a door as one of the soldiers marched up the stairs, he turned and noticed the trio who stood, motionless in fear of what they saw. If asked to describe the appearance of the soldier, Mike would probably have started with the fact her wasn’t even sure if it was a machine, a person or a horrifying combination of both. The soldier stood at a good six feet and while it had a humanoid appearance it seemed to possess strange wires and tubes that seemed to go in and out of its body. Worst of all was the strange mask it wore that covered it’s entire face, it was almost jet black with small pieces of circuitry coming out of it and the goggles it wore were filled with a dark piercing red pupils which grew and shrank as the goggles turned and focused in on the trio.

The soldier raised it’s gun and Mike found himself grabbing both El and Will’s hands and closing his eyes, preparing for the inevitable when he heard a shout and a series of thuds. 

He opened his eyes to find Joyce standing at the top of the stairs, her face a mixture of pride and anger and Mike realised she had grabbed the soldier and pushed him down the stairs.

“Right, come on!” She shouted at the trio, before ushering them down the stairs, as they reached the bottom they found Hopper lying on the floor, El rushed over and started shaking him in an effort to wake him. 

“Yeah, yeah i’m awake.” He let out a grumble, as he sat up. The gang turned and saw four more of the stranger soldiers who raised their guns ready to fire.

Hopper shouted at everyone to get down and they all dove behind the first piece of furniture they could, with El, Will and Mike behind what was once the sofa and Hopper and Joyce behind a knocked over desk. Mike, Will and El huddled together as the soldiers opened fire and the room was filled with a host of flashing lights and deafening sounds as bullets smashed into everything around them. Turning to look at Hopper, Mike saw him holding a revolver that had some sort of modification and cogs installed on it and then Hopper stepped out from behind the wall and in quick succession landed four headshots.

The room fell silent apart from the sound of fire crackling away at the building. 

“Come on Kid, we better go.” He said to a speechless Mike.

The group quickly made their way out of the burning building and into the dark alleyways of the streets as rain poured from ever growing storm above them.

* * *

He felt numb, I mean anyone would feel numb after watching people got shot and almost getting killed yourself. In front of him, Joyce and Hopper argued about who it was that had attacked them while Will occasionally chirped in with a few comments about somewhere safe they could hide out. El walked next to Mike who hung back slightly from the others and regarded the boy with a concerned look. 

Mike knew he should be feeling more afraid, he should be screaming at the world...no at the universe for what was happening but the memories of this other life seemed to fill him with a sort of calm, they made him feel like he belonged and like all this hell was normal and it made him feel numb to the world.

“Hey, are you okay?” El asked, taking his hand in hers.

“Why do I feel like all of this is normal?” Mike turned to her, “Why are you lot acting like this is normal?”

“Because it is.” El responded, “I know you don’t remember exactly but we don’t live boring lives.” She added with a small smile.

“They were after me.” Mike simply said.

“You can’t know that, we’ve pissed off a lot of people before all this happened. It could be any of them.”

Mike considered her answer but he knew that the warning from the caretakers had been about that attack.

“Everyone just stop!” Mike shouted, causing the others to turn and look at him.

“They were after me Hopper, and I can’t stay here, in this world, I mean. You need to take me to that Goldstan or whatever he’s called now. None of you will be safe until i’m gone.” Mike deadpanned giving Hopper a look which he hoped showed his mind wouldn’t be changed.

“Look Kid, we don’t know anything at the moment..let’s just - ” 

“No” Mike interrupted him, “We go now.”

Sighing, Hopper turned and muttered something to Joyce about a hide out at the edge of the city and turned to El.

“Don’t suppose I can convince you to go with Joyce and Will somewhere safe?” He asked, already knowing her answer.

El simply tilted her head to one side and gave, in Mike’s opinion, the most sarcastic ‘what do you think’ look he had ever seen which earned a soft chuckle from Hop.

Mike, El and Hopper bid their farewells and see you later to Joyce and Will before Hopper turned around and crouched down to eye level with Mike.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked simply.

Mike simply nodded and Hopper let out a sigh.

He reloaded his revolver and checked to make sure he had some bullets spare before uttering a simple “let’s go.”

* * *

To say the Goldstan building was tall, was an understatement. When Mike had first seen it, he had thought that it was a fairly big building but now stood directly in front of it, he could hardly crane his neck enough to see the top which itself was shrouded in the clouds of the storm.

The three of them stood in front of the entrance, soaked to the bone from the constant onslaught of rain, Hopper let out a ragged breathe before turning to Mike and El.

“Right, this is how it’s gonna go down, with this sort of storm most of the staff will have gone home, so, all we need is a key off one of the guards…” Hopper continued to explain how they were gonna use the elevator to find Goldstan, he finds the missing kid he’s looking for and El and Mike find the key. Mike found himself tuning out most of what Hop was saying, more echo’s of memories flooded his mind, this time more intense, like they were trying to overwrite his own memories and he was using all his concentration to hold on to what he knew to be real.

Hopper smacked Mike lightly on his arm, “You still with me Kid?” 

“Yeah..” 

“Alright, let’s do this then.”

Hopper hadn’t been exaggerating when he said most of the people were gone as the lobby was practically empty save a lone security guard.

“Sorry folks, building’s closed by order of Mr Goldstan.” The security guard said as he approached them.

Hopper smiled at the man and muttered a small apology before sucker punching him right in the face. The poor guard didn’t stand a chance and collapsed, unconscious and Mike had to admit, Hopper did frighten him quite a bit.

After collecting the keys out of his pocket, they made their way to an elevator, turning the key in a small lock next to the buttons, Hopper pressed the top button which had a the letter G on instead of a number. The doors closed and the elevator rocked and began moving upwards.

The elevator ride was long and quiet, there was a growing sense of unease between the three of them at how easy this had been so far.

After a few minutes the sounds of gears and steam stopped and the elevator came to a halt. The doors slowly opened to reveal a huge office filled with, what Mike assumed were gold statues of a Goldstan. 

At the far end of the room, a small man sat behind a desk that was clearly too large for him. 

“Well you’re here, just like they said you would be.” Goldstan noted, standing up and moving to the front of the desk. 

Hopper wasted no time, grabbing the man by the scruff of his neck, “We’re here for two things, firstly, that weird glass shard you have, and the second, the Harrington kid you kidnapped.” 

“You really think you’re in control here?” Goldstan asked, but Hopper clearly wasn’t in the mood for talking.

Mike watched as Hopper landed two punches to Goldstan’s face and pushed him back into the desk.

“I’ve been shot at, had my house blown up and got soaked in this godforsaken storm, I'm not in the mood for this, now, last chance..” Mike watched as Hopper place his gun to Goldstan’s forehead and pulled back the trigger, “Tell me what I want to know.”

“Fine, it’s not like it’ll change things anyway, the boy is downstairs in the basement, here.” He handed Hopper another key, “You can use my personal elevator over there.”

“What about this ‘key’ or whatever you call it.” 

“Ah yes, we still don’t know fully what it is, but it appears to be exactly what it looks like. A shard of something, all I know is it warps reality around it.” The small man pointed at a nearby bookcase, “there’s a button under my desk, press it and follow the staircase behind that bookcase.”

“Thank you very much.” was all Hopper said before he threw Goldstan across the desk, he walked around and gave him one final kick to the head knocking him unconscious.

Hopper pressed a small red button under the desk and bookcase slid into the side of the wall, revealing a staircase. Noticing a gun on the desk, he picked it up and walked over to Mike and El.

“Here, take this. We’re gonna have to split up.” He gave the gun to El and from the way she handled it, it was obvious she’d used one before. 

“Will you be okay?” She asked.

“I should be asking you that.” He responded, a small smile on his face. “I’ll see you both outside when this is over with okay?”

He turned to Mike with a confused look on his face.

“Well, I guess I'll be seeing the proper you, so good luck getting to wherever it is you’re going.”

“Thank you sir..I mean Hop, it was nice meeting you.” Mike smiled and he truly felt sorry that he wouldn’t get to see Hopper again, well he thought he wouldn’t anyways.

Hopper grumbled something and then proceeded to make his way to the elevator.

In the future, Mike would sometimes find himself wondering if Hopper ever did find the Harrington kid and make it out alive, and he liked to believe he did.

Mike looked at Eleven who sent him a shy smile, she pulled back the trigger on the ornate gun and took Mike’s hand.

“Come on, let’s end this.”

* * *

The stairs spiralled on for what seemed like forever, they must have been about half way up when they heard shouting coming from below. El shot Mike worried glance before continuing up the stairs.

“Y’know how I said we don’t live boring lives?” El asked Mike, slightly breathless.

“Yeah.” Was all Mike was able to get out, as they quickened their pace up the stairs.

“Well...this is nothing compared to the other week, when we were on that burning airship and crashed into the River Sula.” El said, Mike could tell she was getting tired and so was he, they had to reach the top soon surely.

“You don’t remember that do you?”

“No.”

“Urgh that sucks, honestly it was so cool, you were like a pirate the way you fought off the men on that ship.” She laughed, they finally reached the top of the stairs and came to a large wooden door. “Hmm, I expected something cooler.” She said, breathlessly.

They both exchanged a small smile and opened the door.

Both of their mouths dropped in awe at what they saw.

It was a large room, filled to the brink with objects and gadgets that both of their respective worlds had never seen before.

“Holy Saint Josephine..” El whispered.

“Who’s Saint Josephine?” Mike asked, he turned to see El shooting him an amused look, “Don’t ask, long story.”

They pushed the door shoot and bolted it. El moved a large wooden bench close to the door and pushed it over before turning around to a confused looking Mike and shrugging.

“Cover, so when they get up here they don’t shoot me to death.”

“Okay, I guess I better start looking.” Mike said, starting to realise this wouldn’t be as straightforward as he hoped.

El gathered a few more objects and made herself a defensible position, she was about to sit down and get ready when she saw a glistening item. Picking it up she found an unusual looking gun that appeared to have a tesla coil instead of a barrel. Flicking the switch on the side, it hummed to life and El smiled, oh she was going to have so much fun.

“You better be quick!” She yelled as she placed the tesla gun on the ground for later use and trained her pistol on the door.

Mike began rushing through the mounds of items, how in the world was he meant to find something as small as the shard here. 

He stopped.

There had to be a better way

Think Michael.

As he realised, maybe there was a way to narrow his search, he felt an explosion rock the room, and then he heard the gunfire.

El was a damn good shot, that’s what Hopper had told her when he first trained her to use a gun, it’s what Mike had told her the first time she saved him from a couple of muggers, and it’s pretty much the last thing that went through most of the soldiers minds as they burst into the room. Regardless, she ran out of ammo fast, after tossing the gun at a soldier who got too close and distracting him. She grabbed the tesla gun and pulled the trigger.

Mike pulled the shard out of his pocket, it glowed and hummed and felt insanely hot in his hand.  
“Come on, this has gotta draw you out.” He muttered as he moved it like a compass in his hand and then he saw it, on a desk, he saw the desk warp and fade in and out of reality and he knew he had found it. He rushed over and grabbed it and then stopped..

What does he do now?

As he paused for a moment, he began to realise he couldn’t hear gunfire anymore but a strange crackling of electricity. Panicking he rushed back screaming El’s name. 

What he found was a Wide eyed Eleven, shooting lightning out of a small gun at some very surprised looking soldiers who promptly fell to the ground in piles of ashes.

The gun seemed to lose it’s power and El stood up smiling triumphantly.

“Honestly I've dealt with worse.”

Mike smiled and for a single second everything seemed like it was going to be okay, that was until El shouted in pain and grabbed her shoulder.

She fell to the floor as blood began gushing out of a single gunshot wound, nowhere near enough to kill her but enough to incapacitate her.

Mike turned to see three individuals walking towards him, one was a man with a scar down his face, the other wore strange looking glasses that did not belong in this world. They were lead by a woman who appeared to wear all red and Mike realised that they seemed to install a fear into him that he had never felt before.

“Mr Wheeler, a pleasure.” The woman smirked, giving him a courteous bow.

“All we desire, is the shard you came here with. Then we will leave you’re new friends alone and return your...soul I guess is the word you would use, to your original reality.”

Mike stood their, dumb and speechless. Well she was certainly straight to the point he thought, but he remembered what the caretakers had said. People where coming for him, but surely they could have been lying, maybe these people only want to help.

That thought was quickly put to rest when he turned and looked at the injured El who’s eyes were pleading with him not to do what they said. 

The woman, sensing Mike wasn’t going to comply clicked her fingers and one of the men took aim at Mike and the other at El. 

“Honestly I don’t like this whole messy business, but I will do what I have to. As I hope will you.”

Mike sighed.

“Fine, okay.” He held out a shaking hand and presented the shard to the woman.

He could see the light from it glitter in her eyes and she almost seemed to lick her lips at the anticipation of holding it. 

The two men seemed to relax and that was all eleven needed as she hurled the tesla gun at the face of the man with the scar, the remnants of the electrical charge struck him and he yet out a yell, accidentally firing his gun. The other two turned towards him and Mike took that as a sign to escape and turned and ran, he and El hide behind a stack of nearby pieces of technology and both clutched at each other checking to see if they were alright.

“It’s just a flesh wound.” She told him, Mike’s concern didn’t falter though and he inspected the wound.

“Looks like the bullet went clean through, I think that’s a good thing.” He said, giving her a weak smile.

She looked at the two shards he held, the one which had been referred to as ‘the key’ appeared slightly smaller than the other one, and didn’t glow as bright. That being said, as Mike clutched it, she noticed his arm seemed to be changing to different clothes she had never seen before.

“What do you do with it?” She asked.

“Honestly, no idea.”

“Maybe try putting them together?” She said.

Mike looked down at the shards and brought them closer together, as he did everything seemed to begin glitching around him, reality seemed to warp just as it had done the day he found the original shard. Eventually he managed to bring both pieces together and there was a flash of light and when they both looked down, only the shard Mike had was there.

Mike was about to say a selection of slurs and curses which he had never used but seemed appropriate for the situation when he heard a faint voice.

“Mike, Mikey, for god’s sake wake UP!” 

“Do you hear that?” He turned and asked El who simply shook her head.

“We're under attack, we need our best pilot, oh for god’s sake you can’t be in that deep a sleep.”

Mike tried to close his eyes and hone in on the voice when he heard El gasp. Turning around he saw the three individuals, however the woman simply looked at him in shock.

“You blasted fool!” She screamed, although whether to him or to the man who El had thrown the gun at he wasn’t sure.

“He’s used the damn key.” She raised her gun and took aim.

El grabbed Mike’s hand and they began running when Mike felt the shot rip into his arm. It knocked him off balance and he fell, he saw El’s face twist from confusion to worry as she tried to grab him and he closed his eyes waiting to hit the ground. 

He never did.

* * *

Mike’s eyes shot open, the world seemed so blurry. 

What had been happening?

Then he remembered.

He remembered the strange steampunk world, he remembered El and her father, the strange soldiers that chased them and the building. 

He’d been shot in the arm.

He bolted upright, nearly headbutting a smallish girl who stood next to his bed.

“Fucking hell man, try and be careful.” She said, hitting his arm.

Mike sat motionless, they said he’d move closer to home, but not home. He looked around the smallish metallic room he was in and that’s when he started to listen to the sounds around him. Alarms were blaring and what he assumed was an emergency light flashed red.

“Dude, seriously, are you okay?” The woman asked, she had ginger hair, pushed back into a ponytail and a face full of freckles. He nodded at her, trying to remain calm.

“Okay get dressed, we need to move.” She said before leaving the room and pressing a button which closed the door.

Mike jumped out of the bed and closed his eyes, there were more echoes in his head, he saw ships in space, fights with what appeared to be laser guns and a host of other things he couldn’t identify. 

‘ _Okay, so now i’m in star wars_ ’ was the first thought that crossed his mind, he said a silent thank you to the universe for letting him access his memories of this place quicker and made his way to his locker to find a rather stylish looking pilots uniform. After putting it on he stood and collected his thoughts. 

He knew what he had to do now, there must be another key somewhere in this world. 

He knew it would hopefully take him to the next.

He just hoped he could outrun those three people who were after him.

His thoughts returned to El, he hoped she was alright.

Of course she was. 

She had to be.

Looking down, he saw he was clutching the shard in his hand, it appeared to have lost the glow it had possessed earlier and Mike let out a sigh, placing it into his pocket.

Before he approached the door he wondered if he’d ever meet her again, shaking that thought from his mind, he opened the door and stepped into this brave new world he had arrived in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...from a very steampunkey and Victorian world straight to a star wars type universe...I kinda want to try and shake things up as much as possible by having each reality be so contrasting, for the beginning anyways. The main idea is as he gets closer to home each reality starts getting closer to what his is actually like (with weird differences or *spoiler for the future* maybe an insane asylum or two)  
> Anyways thanks for reading, I might do a follow up fic to show what happens to El and Hopper in the steampunk world after Mike leaves but then again, I like the mystery of not knowing.  
> Anyways, all being well a new chapter next week, hopefully on Friday.


	4. The Battle of the Starborium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike wakes up in the middle of a space battle over the wreckage of a destroyed ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's like a week late.....  
> But hey least it's finally here...not the best chapter of a fic i've ever wrote so sorry if it's not great but hope you enjoy.

“Thank the stars, you’re finally ready!” The redheaded girl said as Mike exited his room.

She began walking down one of the corridors and Mike decided it would be best to follow her. The memories of this place still hadn’t fully come back to him, although he did seem to be able to access them a lot easier than in the previous world. 

The ship shook and Mike fell towards a wall, trying his best to steady himself. 

“They showed up early today, just as we arrived at the wreckage of the Starborium. We didn’t think to wake you because they just seemed to be following us, nothing dangerous or anything.” She told him, a name kept nagging at the back of Mike’s head so he finally decided to speak up.

“Max?” He tested the name.

“Yeah?”

Okay, so far so good. For a brief moment he considered telling her everything that was happening to him, how he wasn’t the Mike she knew and how he was trying to get back to his own dimension. However, he realised that he had gotten lucky with El, she had believed him even if she hadn’t understood and the chances are not everyone will believe it, hell Mike hardly believed it. If he was going to be an inter-dimensional traveller for a while then he had best get used to trying to blend in.

Realising Max was looking at him expectantly he quickly came up with a question.

“What sort of weapons are they firing at us?” Mike cringed as the words left his mouth, he still didn’t really have a clue about what they were dealing with but Max didn’t seem to notice.

“Standard A51 plasma cannons.” She replied coolly.

They arrived at a large metallic door with a small keypad on the wall next to it, as Max went to enter the code the numbers flashed in Mike’s head. 

‘Least i’m starting to be able to control this memory echo thing’ he thought.

The doors slid open with a surprisingly satisfying woosh sound and Mike stood awestruck, the bridge of the ship was filled with blinking lights, retro screens and consoles with more buttons then Mike could count. There were people huddled around consoles, desperately inputting commands on old style keyboards while others rushed around flipping switches left and right. It had the feel of the original Star Wars films or the Nostromo from Alien.

Mike felt his body go on a sort of autopilot and made his way to what he knew to be the flight controls, the ship shook violently as the enemy ships began increasing their rate of fire. 

Mike fell into the chair and Max came over and pressed the intercom button.

“Jane and Dustin, you two are up. Get into those fighters take your squadrons out, keep them distracted. We’ll start moving towards the wreckage and see what we can find.” Max released the button, waiting for a response.

“Yeah, we’re on it, I don't know how long we’ll last against those ships though.” A girls voice, (Jane Mike assumed) came back through slightly distorted, the weird thing was, Mike was sure he’d heard that voice before.

However before he could put a name to it, the control panel next to Mike exploded in a flurry of sparks sending a crewman flying into the wall.

“Shit!” Max shouted rushing over to check they were okay, “I’m gonna get on the cannons, and for the love of alteria-5 start moving us away from those damn things.”

Mike nodded dumbly at her, turning back to the multitude of buttons and computer screens in front of him Mike suddenly had a horrifying realisation.

He couldn’t remember how to fly this ship.

* * *

Damn he should have told her, or at least said something about having memory loss, that would've been a half truth at least.

The ship was hit again and Mike heard several more alarms start blaring, time was running out, he had to do something.

He closed his eyes, desperately trying to will the memories to come to him but it seemed to be useless. 

‘I thought I was getting the hang of this’ he thought.

Two more consoles near him blew and pieces of debris flew everywhere, a large piece of shrapnel cut Mike’s face as it flew past and Mike let out a cry. The imminent threat of death however seemed to trigger some response in his brain and he instinctively started pushing buttons and flipping switches.

Mike was dazed but decided that he shouldn’t think about what he was doing too much and just let his instincts guide him. 

The ship lurched forward and the engines fired as it began moving away from the attacking vessels towards the wreckage of the Starborium. The cannons aimed towards the 4 ships and began a hail of plasma. Fifteen fighters, flew out of the ship and began making strategic attacks on the enemy ships in an attempt to, at the very least, cripple them. 

Mike found himself piloting the ship extremely effectively, he began performing evasive maneuvers, spinning and managing to avoid several bolts of plasma energy. 

A mixture of cannon fire and the small attacks by the fighters on one of the enemy ships triggered an energy surge in the engines, and the ship exploded in a bright blue flash sending out a wave of energy.

“Damn it!” A voice came through the intercom, it sounded like a young man, which must have been Dustin. “The energy wave is causing my engines to phase, gonna have to come back. Jane and about 7 other fighters are still good though.”

The other 3 ships turned their attention to the remaining fighters and Mike could see on the radar several of them get annihilated.

Mike commanded the ship to approach the wreckage and found himself, to his own amazement, piloting it through a dense field of debris without colliding with any of it. The ship came to a stop next to a large platform which appeared to have been part of a hanger and Mike sat back and let out a heavy sigh, he went to wipe his face and let out a hiss as he touched the cut on his cheek. As the adrenaline began to wear off his head started to ache and Mike realised that it was from the mental strain of remembering another life. 

He stood up and made his way to one of the viewing windows and could still the battle between the small fighters and the large enemy ships occurring in the distance.

“We should get going, see what we can find.” Max said walking to his side.

“Yeah.” Was all Mike was able to utter.

“Hey!” She shouted at one of the men sitting at a half blown up control station. “Make yourself useful and take over at the flight controls, keep the ship steady but ready to move away from any debris okay?” 

The man gave her a nod and made his way over to where Mike had just been.

“Come on, I don’t know how much time Jane and the other fighters can buy us.”

* * *

They made their way in silence down the corridor towards the elevator. The ship was creaking around them and Mike started to wonder how much more damage it could actually take.

Max checked the control panel for any sign the elevator was gonna drop them to their deaths but seemed fairly satisfied and they both entered and began their descent to the lower parts of the ship.

Max turned to Mike and inspected his cut.

“It should be okay, anyways i’m sure Jane will take care of it when she gets back.” She said winking.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mike asked, genuinely confused.

“Oh come on, you two aren’t exactly subtle with your relationship. I know I say I wont tolerate relationships with co-workers but you two are pretty cute together.” She responded with a little chuckle. 

So he was with this mysterious Jane girl in this reality, she seems to be a bad-ass pilot so that’s pretty cool Mike thought to himself.

The elevator stopped with a jolt and they made their way into the nearby changing room. The spacesuits required them to lose a great deal of their clothes so Mike removed the shard from his pant pocket and placed it into one of the pouches on the utility belt of his spacesuit. 

After they were both suited they moved into the airlock and their suit communicator crackled as a voice came through.

“Dustin here, just got to the bridge, opening the airlock for you both now. Looks like the artificial gravity is still working on the Starborium. Good luck.” 

“Cheers Dustin, keep an eye on the other fighters that are still out there.” Max replied.

Mike heard the air being sucked out of the room and then he heard nothing except his own ragged breathing. The airlock opened slowly and in complete silence and Mike had a strange feeling of dread.

They both moved out of the ship and onto part of the wreckage and Mike started to realise just how lonely and vast space truly was.

“So what happened to the Starborium?” Mike asked.

“No one is really sure, apparently they found something and tried to use it by powering it up. It backfired and whatever it was, exploded.”

Mike looked around at the wreckage, it must have been insanely powerful to rip apart a ship of this size he thought.

“So is that what we’re here for?”

“Heck no, don’t want anything that powerful or unpredictable on-board the Hawkins.” Max responded.

Mike nearly froze, their ship was called the Hawkins. Just like the town he was from.

It was like everything was connected, across different realities, some things stay the same and others don’t.

“We’re here for the black-box recorder, and any technologies we can scavenge. So get to work.”

Mike and Max split off in different directions, as he wondered the massive vessel he couldn’t believe the scale of it. Despite the level of destruction there was still something hauntingly beautiful about the large corridors that sometimes just opened up into the vastness of space. 

Mike started to notice the damage to the ship increasing and he began to realise that he must be approaching the epicentre of the explosion.

“Found the black-box!” Max’s voice crackled through the communicator.

“Both of you need to head back now, we can’t hold them off any longer!” Jane’s voice came through, and despite the distortion Mike was still certain he’d heard it before.

Mike was about to turn back when he came across a room with a large crater at the centre of it, this had to be the site of the explosion.

The room was littered with large scars on the wall and holes where blasts of energy has ripped through the hull but Mike’s attention was being drawn to the where the location had originated.

Because he could see it.

At the centre of the crater.

A small glowing shard of glass.

The key.

* * *

He couldn’t believe his luck, he’d found it already. Much faster than in the previous world.

He slid down the side of the crater and approached the key. As he reached it he could see it glitching the world around it and Mike stopped.

He had never realised how much power it must contain, but now that he was standing in the ruins of a ship it had obliterated. He felt afraid to even look at it.

Taking a deep breath, he removed the shard from his pouch in his left hand and picked up the key in his right. As he was about to bring the two together and begin the process of moving onto the next reality, his communicator crackled. 

“Mike, where the fuck are you?” Max said desperately, “You need to get back right this second.”

He couldn’t leave this version of himself in the ruins of a ship, he wasn’t sure what happened to the other version of him after he moved on but at the very least he would be disorientated.

“I’m on my way.” He responded.

Placing the key and the shard into two separate pouches, he turned and began quickly making his way to the Hawkins.

Thankfully he managed to retrace his steps easy enough and soon arrived at the platform which led to the Hawkins. At the end he could see Max stood in the airlock and Mike started moving towards her. 

If sound could be heard in space, maybe Mike would’ve been able to hear the incoming danger. Maybe he could’ve managed to run and jump into the airlock but that isn’t the way space works. So Mike was decidedly confused when a large bolt of blue plasma energy whizzed passed him and then the confusion turned to pure horror as he looked to his right and saw the remaining enemy ships firing at the Hawkins. 

Two more bolts of bright blue plasma impacted the Hawkins and Mike saw the ship visibly shake, but the targeting systems of the ships must have been damaged in some way because as they increased their rate of fire, while some of the bolts hit the Hawkins, many missed their mark and collided with the Starborium. One in particular smashed through the platform Mike stood on and he let out a scream as he was blown backwards.

The universe spun around him as he collided with a wall at the back of the platform, his helmet struck the floor hard and cracked. 

He could hear shouting through his communicator but his head was spinning and he couldn’t understand a word of it. A small message appeared on his visor, warning him about an imminent breach in his helmet and the crack on the glass started to slowly increase in size. 

“We can’t stay here, according to the computer his visor is about to break so he’s dead anyways.” He heard a voice say.

“We can’t just leave him!” He heard Max respond.

He tried to pick himself up but his body felt heavy and he was certain his left arm was broken. 

“I can get him!” He heard the voice of Jane say, it was strange and oddly calming for a reason he couldn’t fathom. 

As he forced himself onto his feet, both the Hawkins and the Starborium were being lit up by blast after blast of plasma energy, a bolt struck the wall further down from where Mike was and he realised he had to move. 

With as much strength as he had, he forced his uncooperative body to limp in the opposite direction of the Hawkins in an effort to get away from the explosions of plasma energy.

He managed to walk two feet when another blast occurred several feet away, he collapsed into a heap on the floor and the crack on his visor now seemed to encompass half of the glass. 

As he looked up, he saw one of the fighters hovering next to a half destroyed corridor, a girl jumped out in her spacesuit and crouched down next to Mike.

“Hey sweetheart.” She said warmly.

As Mike looked into her eyes he realise who she was. 

He knew he had recognised her voice.

It was Jane, but that name didn’t feel right to Mike, so he called her by the name he knew her by.

“Eleven.” He managed to say as she helped him up and began leading him back to her fighter.

“God, can’t believe you still call me by my ship designation.” She laughed.

Mike was about to ask what she meant when he saw on the fighter, a large number eleven painted on the side.

Jane helped him into the co-pilot seat and jumped into her seat.

The fighter floated upwards and then sped away from the wreckage as a blast of plasma skimmed the wing of the ship.

The fighter turned and sped towards the Hawkins.

“We’re ready to jump to hyperspace, get into the hanger quick.” He heard Dustin shout through the com system.

“You came back for me.” Mike said.

“Of course, I always come back for you.” She replied in a soft, soothing voice.

Mike’s left arm hung limply at his side, and so he used his right arm to remove the key from the pouch and place it in his lap. He then grabbed the shard from the other pouch and brought the two together. The key vanished in a small flash and Mike started to feel the reality around him distort. He could hear a conversation echoing through from the reality he was heading to but he was too tired and broken to understand it.

They landed in the hanger and he felt the Hawkins jump to hyperspace.

He looked out of the fighters window and saw through the hanger shield, dark blue energy passing them by as the Hawkins travelled through hyperspace.

They were safe.

He looked at the girl next to him and smiled lazily, she turned and smiled back before a look of concern took over her face. 

“Come on, let’s get you looked at and patched up.”

“Thank you El...I can’t believe it’s you.” Mike replied as he felt himself being pulled away.

“It’s always me.” He heard her reply as he blinked and moved reality.

* * *

He found himself stood with his arms crossed, surrounded by men on what looked like extremely advanced computers, the likes of which he had never seen. The shard was in one of his hands and he quickly put it into, what he realised was a lab coat pocket that he was wearing before crossing his arms again. 

The room was large and filled with high tech equipment and 3 large monitors on the wall and Mike turned to his right to find a man talking to him.

The man was quite tall and had white hair, simply looking at him made Mike shiver for reasons he couldn’t fathom.

“.....but anyways it’s a pleasure to have you here Dr Wheeler.” The man said, finishing whatever he had been saying. 

An echo of a memory flashed through Mike’s mind and he realised he was a doctor of physics in this world.

“Likewise.” Mike replied, trying to sound confident but instead coming off as quite timid. The man didn’t seem to notice or care however and turned towards the large screens on the wall which now showed a city Mike couldn’t identify. What was interesting wasn’t the city however, but the sky, which had what looked like a large, shimmering tear in it.

“We’re still not really sure what it is but as you theorised in the paper you released last week, it could indeed be a crack in reality itself.”

Mike looked back at the man in shock, could it be that this was somehow related to everything that had been happening to him.

“The point is however that we finally found someone who had been exposed to the energy coming from it, we found them in an alleyway, muttering nonsense to themselves, so we brought the specimen here for containment. They are about the same age as you.” The man said, with a look that Mike could only interpret as morbid curiosity.

“Since you seem to be the only person we have close to an expert on this strange tear in the world, I thought we’d bring you on the project.”

The man calmly moved his hand out to which Mike took it and shook, a name flashed through his mind at the contact.

“Thank you Dr Brenner.” Mike said and the man smiled a small, sly grin which sent shivers down his spine.

He patted one of the men working at the desk to show the person they had locked up and the man gave a gruff response and began typing on his keyboard.

Mike turned and looked at the screens and he felt his heart shatter.

The person in question was a girl.

She had short brown hair and was huddled in a corner on the small bed she had in the padded room, it was obvious she had been crying and she looked terrified.

Mike knew instantly who she was.

“Welcome...” Brenner said, “to project Eleven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next world is probably going to be set over 2 chapters, the first chapter of which is actually nearly finished so hopefully should be uploaded very soon. anyways if you liked leave a comment or a kudo...or both..  
> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
